1.12 We are where the dreams are living

The following months rushed by so quickly. Anna and Jo tried for a baby, without ever being successful. The time in between was filled with gardening and taking care of Freebird, who demanded a lot of attention. Nevertheless, Anna was not as exhausted as she thought as she would be. Instead, she got up every morning with the desire to run around the house, laughing and dancing. Her eyes shone brighter each day, and her smile cheered everyone around her up. Especially Jo, who was becoming a little nervous. He was already in his late fifties, while Anna was twenty years younger than him. Were they going to be too late? He couldn’t bare that thought, which is why he made a decision one day, while watching Anna through the kitchen window. She was dancing in the sprinkler, laughing and giggling like a little child. Her biggest wish still was to have a child, and he had to make this happen for her.

In his excitement he forgot to put on some more clothes than the short jogging pants he was wearing, instead he ran out to Freebird and saddled her. He hadn’t been riding for many weeks now, because they both had been so busy in their little garden. The mushroom harvest had been bad, and they’d had to grow new ones before any market would take them. In addition, there was still a lot to do about the house, which they tried to squeeze in every now and then. It was far from easy, since both of them still had demanding jobs – Jo worked as a talent searcher in the music industry, and Anna was working her way up in the science lab. Not too long ago, she had confessed that she no longer wanted to become a creature-robot cross breeder, which was what she had wanted to do when she had first arrived in Appaloosa Plains. The garden took up too much of her time to really focus on a job, and she decided that she was more interested in the quality of her plants, anyway. Still, she had to keep the job to pay the bills. 

When Jo sat on Freebird, letting her drink a bit before their excursion, he smiled. Anna, watching him from the inside, wondered what her boyfriend could possibly be up to. He never rode anymore, and in trousers that looked like his pajamas? Well, he was on his way to be a rockstar, maybe he could convince people that was the appropriate way to dress.

Hours later, he returned, guiding Freebird on her leash. It had started raining heavily, and both of them were soaked. When Anna greeted him with a towel on the door, asking what he had been up to, he just smiled and walked inside. If only she knew what was going on here! After everything that happened, she still was not very fond of surprises, even if they were good ones. And she hoped it was a good one.

That night, for the first time in ages, she had a bad dream again. She was eating lunch in the garden, but was it pitch black outside. The lamps on the small fence that surrounded her garden shone so bright that they hurt her eyes. Jo was sitting opposite of her, eating his salad without saying a single word. It was quiet, too quiet. The forks didn’t make any noises on the plates, no birds were chirping high up in the air, both of them didn’t say a single word. It was like starring in a silent film, which she had always found scary. Not being able to hear anything was her worst nightmare, not only because she was devoted to music and couldn’t bear the thought of being cut off from all melodies and rhythms.

After they had finished eating, Jo took out his guitar and turned towards her. He seemed to play her a serenade, but still she could not hear a single sound. Suddenly, without any warning, a huge light ascended from the ground and began to spread around Jo. It seemed to devour him. When Anna tried to step forwards towards him, in order to help him escape from this light, she had to realize her feet were bound to the ground. She couldn’t move one inch, despite desperately wanting to.

Then she woke up, tears streaming down her face. 

When she woke up the next day, she couldn’t remember what had happened in the previous night. Jo, tired from studying music theory all night, had slept right through it, not noticing a thing. She had not bothered to wake him that very moment, because she could not explain any of this to herself right now. How would she explain to Jo? No, she could never do that.

After having breakfast in the beautiful garden, which was dipped in the warming sunlight of early autumn, Jo called her outside to the front door. She was not even dressed yet, but since he again was in his sweats, she didn’t bother to put anything else on. Nobody was going to pass the house at this time of day, she hoped. 

When she stepped outside, she first saw a big sandy butt blocking most of her view. It took her a second to understand the situation, then she walked around it and finally reached the front of the creature before her, which was another beautiful horse! Jo had secretly been to the animal adopting agency, and had signed themselves up for a second horse.

Riding him turned out to be a bit difficult, because their family extension had been treated rather badly in his old home. Now, he was very sensitive and easily got angry about anything. Jo spent an entire week trying to ride him, eventually being successful. This had not been the big surprise he had been in town for, but one more reason to make Anna smile in the morning. She had been quieter than usual these last few days, and although he still hoped for a hormonal cause, he knew deep inside of him that something was torturing her again. If only she would talk to him.

When Jo came home from his latest ride, Anna was already waiting for him in the garden, reading a book. She was still in her working clothes, which astonished him. Usually she couldn’t get rid of that itching jacket fast enough, which, in addition, was too small for her. Her boss had babbled something about being grateful for having working clothes at all, and she decided to no longer discuss this with him. So why was it that she stayed in this jacket on free will? When he approached her, greeted her with a kiss and asked what was going on, it was her turn to smile and say nothing. Instead, she pulled him inside and told him to wait until the sun was completely down.

Around midnight, when probably everyone else in the entire town was asleep, she took Jo by the hand and gently led him to the window across from the kitchen. When he looked outside, he couldn’t believe his eyes. This had to be a beautiful dream.

There was no way Jo could watch this from a distance. Very quietly, he pulled on some shoes and stepped outside. It had been raining all evening, and when his feet sank into the wet ground, the unicorn looked up. It didn’t seem to be afraid, though.

It eyed Jo curiously, and finally let him gently touch its snout. Anna was watching from a distance as her boyfriend made contact with a creature that had supposed to be a myth. When she had cleaned Freebird’s box earlier that day, she had noticed that there were small hoofprints in the box, which she had never seen before. She had only assumed that they had another equine visitor, but this was something else altogether. This was magical.

One moment, it even looked like stars and pixie-dust were coming out of the unicorn’s horn, but that surely was just imagination.

When Jo stepped away from the unicorn after what must have been hours, he took a bow and made an inviting gesture with his hand. The unicorn didn’t respond for a second, then slowly lowered his head and reciprocated the bow. Then it walked towards the front door, leading Jo back inside to Anna, who was waiting, thrilled about what she had seen and dying to learn more. Jo told her the entire story, and ended with his assumption that the unicorn probably was going to stay with them for a while now. And really, for the rest of the night, Kokette, as they named her, stayed in front of the house the entire night, blocking the entry for any strangers coming by. She had found somebody to trust in Jo, and she was going to stay with these animal loving persons.

Author's notes: A unicorn, a unicorn! <3